This is a purchase I thought long and hard about. It's a "KidCarry" child hip carrier- supposedly good for kids up to 45 lbs.
Our update on Daniel tells us he's 31 lbs now; I tried to imagine how we will move around China with an-almost-3-year-old-31-pound-toddler. I figure that, if he's into it (or even if he's not), I'll try to carry him a lot to promote attachment. But, given that I'm barely 5'2", and we will be in Nanjing- one of the "furnace cities"- in August (we hope!), I thought I might need a bit of help. I started looking into hip carriers, and, to be honest, this was the only one I found that I think *might* work with a 3 year old.
When our girls were infants, I was big into the sling thing. Attachment parenting and all that good stuff. I found that they were happy to be carried on my hip in the sling even when they were 2 years old. But it got tricky getting them in there. And they could wiggle out almost at will.
DH was not into sling-wearing. So, when our second child arrived, we bought a MEC Backpack Kid Carrier for him to wear and tote around our oldest. Ms. Independent had other ideas, however... she wanted to WALK wherever she went, thank-you very much.
Fortunately, our second daughter loved that Backpack. And her stroller. She was 4 years old and still loved her stroller. We'd pull into the parking lot of the Mall or a park and she'd wait for us to take out her stroller with a look that said, "What? Me, walk!?!".
We still have the MEC Backpack. My only complaint with it is that is it large, and would be a real pain to travel to China with. The KidCarry, on the other hand, is light, easy to pack, and looks promising... so, we'll see whether it will live up to its claims, or if I just flushed $70US down the tubes!
9 comments:
I would look into a Mei-Tei type carrier like on babyhawk.com. I use it with my daughter who is three years (and about 33 pounds...and adopted) and it's VERY comfortable. Having used MANY carriers, I'd be wary of one that puts the strain of the child's weight on ONE shoulder.
I actually have looked at the Mei-Tei carriers. But I wondered if having him plastered to my back would work in the kind of temperatures we'll be experiencing in China!! (I should tell you that I live in a place that rarely hits 25degC in the summer!!)
This hip carrier has fairly substantial waist belt, that is supposed to take a lot of the strain from your shoulder- but, we will see, I guess, if that's really the case.
Wow. That looks really comfortable. I'm an Ergo loving mother-to-be but I'll be waiting to hear what you think of this one.....
We're planning on the Hip Hammock by Playtex. Not fancy, but it looks like the same idea. The child's weight is on your hip, but there is support across the shoulder.
I bet you spend your days chasing him around in circles :-)
Deb
Do you know anyone with a child about the same size that you could practice with? A practice child is always a good resource to have.
The Kid Carry does look promising. I, too, will be waiting to learn how it worked out for you. And going to a furnace city in August? Oh my.
Hip carriers can throw your back out as the kid gets older. I like the ergo myself and those hostling carriers. If you want one of those, I know an adoption mom who sells them cheap.
Carolyn,
We were in a furnace city (Nanchang) in August 2003 when we adopted Holly. It is a heat like no other. It feels like you are in an oven.You can only spend a few minutes outside at a time. When we got to Beijing it seemed cool (at 25 degrees celcius) compared to Nanchang.
Your carrier looks good to me especially for a 3 year old. Christopher is about the same size as Daniel.He is 30 pounds now.Chris has big feet for his age.He wears a size 8.5 to a 9 in sneakers and sandles. In clothes Size 2 is getting short in length now but size 3 is very large in the waist. Chris will not wear shorts. He always says he is cold. Holly on the other hand would wear shorts all year round.
You must really be getting excited now. I know I can hardly wait myself.
Libby
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